Life Members
Graham Barrell
Lincoln
Awarded life membership in 2020
Graham Barrell co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed journal publications and has been a long-standing member and supporter of the New Zealand Society of Endocrinology (including a brief term as president). In 2019 he was the Nancy Sirett award lecturer.
A uniting theme in Graham's research is a committment to demonstrating that it is possible to engage farm animals in the quest for new knowledge about basic mammalian endocrinology that is beneficial for both livestock production and medical science. Key research interests include role of C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP), the sheep model of Batten disease, mechanisms controlling seasonal reproduction in mammals, nutritional and foraging strategies of Weddell seals in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, the biology of lactation in red deer hinds and the hardening process in bones and antlers.
Michael Croxson
Auckland
Awarded life membership in 2012
Mike Croxson graduated from Otago Medical School in 1965 and completed his physician and endocrinology training in Auckland. Mike won the Fogarty International Fellowship to the USA in 1975 where he worked for 2 years in the laboratory of J Nicoloff. He returned to Auckland Hospital in 1977 as a clinical endocrinologist and general physician. He has remained in this role ever since and has been the clinical director of endocrinology at Auckland hospital since 1992. Mike has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications mainly in his specialist interests of thyroid disease and the genetic syndromes involved in endocrine neoplasia. In 2012, Mike received the Society’s Ibbertson Clinical Endocrinology Award.
John Delahunt
Wellington
Awarded life membership in 2012
John Delahunt graduated from Otago Medical School in 1966 and has been a clinical endocrinologist at Wellington Hospital since 1978. He has been a Senior Lecturer at the Wellington School of Medicine for many years and has trained and mentored many undergraduates and postgraduates. John has been a very active member of the NZSE having been the treasurer on 2 occasions, a previous secretary and the NZSE Representative on the Royal Australasian College of Physicians Adult Medicine Advisory Panel in the 1980s and from 2008-2012.
Ian Holdaway
Auckland
Awarded life membership in 2012
Ian Holdaway graduated from Otago Medical School in 1965 and has been a clinical endocrinologist at Auckland Hospital since 1975. He was made honorary Professor of Endocrinology at the Auckland School of Medicine in 1994 and has authored over 140 peer-reviewed publications particularly in acromegaly and functional pituitary disease. Ian is a highly valued member of the NZSE and was president of the NZSE from 1991-1994 and the Sirrett lecturer in 2002. He chaired the Royal Australasian College of Physicians Specialist Advisory Committee for endocrine training from 1988-2008 and currently chairs the Pharmac Adult Growth Hormone Panel.
Professor Ailsa Goulding
Awarded life membership in 2010
A member of the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Otago, Prof Goulding's research focused on bone density, osteoporosis, and the role of obesity and nutrition in children's health. She won the New Zealand Association of Research Scientists Marsden Medal for 2007. Professor Goulding is internationally known for highlighting links between childhood obesity and increased bone fracture risk.
Professor Eric Espiner
Christchurch
Awarded life membership in 2010
Professor, Department of Medicine, Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, The University of Otago, New Zealand
Since graduating from the University of Otago Medical School in 1957, Eric Espiner has been at the forefront of Endocrinology both in New Zealand, and worldwide. He has focused in particular on the HPA axis, and more recently hormones and the heart. He and his team were one of the first groups to begin to understand roles for naturietic hormones and cardiovascular regulation, an important area of endocrine research that continues at the Christchurch Medical School today. Eric has received numberous awards, and authored more than 350 peer reviewed publications. He has also been heavily involved with training, teaching and mentoring both endocrinologists and research scientists. Eric has been a highly valued member of the NZSE over many years, and was the Nancy Sirett Lecturer in 2000.
Professor Sir Graham (“Mont”) Liggins
(1926-2010)
Auckland
Emeritus Professor of The University of Auckland, Mont Liggins was internationally renowned for his research on early life, which had a profound impact on the health of premature babies.
For further information on Mont Liggins, and tributes to the man and his work, click here.
Professor H Kaye Ibbertson
(1926 – 2018)
Auckland
Emeritus Professor of Endocrinology at the University of Auckland and Head of the Department of Endocrinology at Auckland Hospital, Kaye Ibbertson was also a foundation member of the NZ Society of Endocrinology and the Australian and NZ Bone and Mineral Society. Both these societies have awards named in his honour. His influence extended well beyond the University and Hospital. He held important positions in the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Medical Research Council, the Child Health Research Council, the Auckland Medical Research Foundation. He helped establish a programme of iodinisation in the Nepalese Sherpa population, and a programme for growth hormone replacement in deficient children in NZ.
Dr John Livesey
Christchurch
Dr Glen Metcalf
Christchurch
Mary Glen Metcalf’s research career began in the early 1960s at age 35 when she began working with Dr Donald Beaven (now Sir Donald Ward Beaven) in the Medical Unit laboratory at Princess Margaret Hospital in Christchurch. Her transformation from full-time house wife and mother to scientist involved gaining her PhD and publishing over 60 papers in journals ranging from the Lancet to Psychological Medicine. Glen Metcalf was a founding member of the Society and served as secretary from 1972-3 and from 1988-91. Her research focused on female reproductive endocrinology, including premenstrual syndrome and menopause, and the development of various steroid hormone assays for blood and urine. Glen notes that not even plasma cortisol could be measured when she began her career in 1961.
Professor Dick Seddon
Queenstown
Prof Dick Seddon completed his MBChB in 1954 and specialised in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. After working in the UK and Auckland he was appointed the inaugural Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Otago Wellington, and then became Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Otago Medical School in Dunedin, a post he held from 1981-1991.
Professor David Stewart
(1934 – 2016)
Dunedin
Emeritus Prof David (R.D.H) Stewart was served as Dean of the Otago Medical School and head of the University of Otago's Health Sciences Division. He was also a long-time member of the Otago District Health Board and its predecessors.